Fallowfields Farm

May Update

Out in the orchard, our flock of Isa Warren and White Star chickens have thoroughly enjoyed the brighter weather and excitedly vie for attention as you pass. We are currently tagging the chickens and separating them off 4 at a time, in order to determine which are laying.

We have had a delivery of Twelve Cotswold White chicks and our Light Sussex eggs have hatched. Both are excellent birds for the table, with the Light Sussex being one of the oldest breeds of chicken in existence. Our bevy of quail have also hatched and are enjoying life in the soft-fruit orchard where they can be seen darting among the raspberry, red currant, white currant, black currant and loganberry bushes.

Six goslings and 26 Aylesbury-Call ducklings have also arrived and Gavin the Goose and Daffyd the Duck have both been hatched with a little assistance from Fallowfields staff. The geese and Aylesbury ducks are to be bred as table birds for the restaurant, whereas White Campbell ducks are being kept for eggs. Regular visits to the pond under the watchful eye of Fallowfields’ staff, are gradually being extended in readiness for their eventual transfer.

In contrast to the more gregarious chickens, ducks and geese our pigs are happy to ignore you as they nap in the heat contentedly digesting their food, which includes as much as possible from the Fallowfields Kitchen Garden. We have three different pig breeds now, each carefully chosen. The beautiful rust-coloured Tamworths are listed as a ‘vulnerable’ breed in the UK and thought to be descended from wild boar. The larger of these will be our breeding pig. We also have Large Blacks with their wonderful lop ears. In fact, they are sometimes called ‘elephant pigs’ as their piglets look like newborn elephants from behind, with their large ears and straight tails. Our May additions are a couple of pedigree Berkshire pigs. It is thought that this breed, with its characteristic upright pointed ears, originated locally in Wantage, over 200 years ago. There are only 359 breeding Berkshire sows and 89 boars left in the UK. The first of the Fallowfields pigs will be ready for slaughter at the end of the summer and will be used for the hog roast at Fallowfields Farm Day on the August Bank Holiday.